Echo ranging circuit



Aug. 19, 1952 Filed Feb. s, 1945 MASTER LA VERNE, R. PHILPOTT ECHO RANGING CIRCUIT MIXER OSCILLATOR FREQUENCY 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 TRANSMITTER DIVIDER PHASE 9\ SHIFTER FREQUENCY DIVIDER IO SAWTOOTH GENERATOR DUPLEXER j VERNE R. PHILPQTT Patented Aug. 19, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE (Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) 9 Claims.

This invention relates to echo ranging systems, and is directed to the problem of time interval measurement by oscillographic means.

As is well understood, echo ranging systems may comprise an impulse transmitter, an oscilloscope provided with a timing locus, and means for applying a voltage to the oscilloscope on transmission of an impulse and on the return of an echo. The invention is primarily concerned with systems wherein the transmitter is controlled by a keying voltage to effect the inauguration of an impulse. In such operation the transmitter is conveniently pulsed at definite intervals determining the period of the impulse frequency. The keying control voltage, under these circumstances, will determine the phase with respect to the impulse frequency at which the transmitter fires, and may therefore be described as a phasing signal. It is to be clearly recognized that the impulse frequency and phasing control refer in no Way to the carrier frequency signal which is generated by the transmitter during operation, and which normally is of the order of hundreds or thousands of megacycles per second, whereas the impulse frequency normally lies within the audio range. I

In particular, the invention provides a highly accurate keying signal for the transmitter and the simultaneously supplied sweep signal voltages which establish the timing on the oscilloscope. Manifestly such a timing circuit is applicable to the determination of the interval between any event caused to occur by the keying voltage and a subsequent event, or the duration of an event caused by the keying voltage, as well as in the application primarily contemplated.

The transmitter is supplied with a sharply peaked phasing voltage having a fundamental period of the desired pulse frequency. It has been ascertained that an impulse transmitter operates under synchronization with a certain phase inaccuracy; and where a sine wave impulse frequency keying waveform is relied upon, such inaccuracy is suflicient to prevent high precision ranging, particularly in short distance operation, as for instance in an altimeter. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to supply a complex synchronizing voltage, of impulse frequency, but having higher frequency components combined therewith, whereby steep wavefront sections are obtained, resulting in greatly increased keying phase accuracy and'in extreme range precision.

It is a. further object of the invention to establish a long timing locus on the oscilloscope for acteristics.

increasing the reading accuracy of the indication. Another object of the invention is to provide, for ranging purposes, for the establishment of any desired interval between the keying of the transmitter and the inauguration of the timing trace. Variation of such interval shifts the indication pattern bodily along the timing locusand permits accurate ranging by effecting successive coincidence of the transmitted and received signals with a marker characteristic on the timing locus. The differential interval is a covariant of the range and the interval control means may therefor be directly calibrated in distance when coincidence of the transmitter impulse with the marker is taken arbitrarily as zero interval.

The invention will be further understood with reference to the drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an echo ranging system embodying the present invention,

Fig. 2 is a block diagram of another echo ranging system of .the present invention,

Fig. 3 is a schematic circuit diagram of a frequency divider suitable for usev in the invention, Fig. 4 is a schematic circuit diagram of a mixer suitable for use in the invention, and

Fig. 5 is a schematic circuit diagram of a transmitter suitable for use in the invention.

The system of Fig. 1 employs keyed impulse transmitter I feeding antenna 2. The antenna, shown as a dipole, may in practice embody any of the types having more highly directional char- Where it is desired to employ the same antenna for transmission and reception, it may be fed through a suitable duplexin system 3 such as described in application S. N. 326,640 filed March 29, 1940, by Leo C. Young andRobert M. Page for Impedance Control Coupling and Decoupling System.

The antenna is coupled to receiver 4, which is protected from injury by high signal levelsduring transmission through operation of duplexer 3, although it receives sufficient energy toprovide indication of the transmitted impulse. After transmission, the receiver is correctly matched through to the antenna for reception of the-returned impulse, or echo, and consequently'is which supplies a recurrent voltage sine wave at a frequency equal to a multiple of the desired impulse frequency.

A frequency divider I is fed by the master control oscillator and furnishes an output of impulse frequency. The divider is further characterized in thateac'yhextremum. of its output, of selected polarity, coincides "with one extremum of the same polarity of the output of the master control oscillator. outputs of oscillator 6 and divider 1, the-.combined wave supplied from the mixer output carries a sharp extremum of high'frequencyssuperposed on the low frequency, extremum,.and..this wave form permits highly accurate keying of transmitter I.

The master oscillator 6 supplies the sweep voltages through phase shifter *9,::.which-tmay1conveniently be a goniometer type instrument." The output of the phase shifter,is employed in the pro'ductionof--both vertical and-horizontal sweeps foros'cillos'cope i 7 In the presentembddiment, a sinuous sweep' is prdduced. The' horizontal defiection plates' are fed from the output 'from the phase shif-ter, 1 and the jvertical dfietion plates are suppliedwith a linear-sweep from generator 10. -'-This:generator is synchronized by' frequency 1 "divider 3 l I also fed I from --the} output of "phase 'shif-ter q.

Th'f-requ'e11cy dividd l I effects the same' fre- -"-quency shift asdivider l described above. The frequencydivider is also -'operative tosupply an output signal having' itseXtr-ema' of one polarity samepolarityof "the input -thereto.' Phase trimmer F2 is provided for setting 'the correct time relations-of the sinusoidal-and *saw tooth :i 'sweep voltages.

The operation iof: the system depends upon the lator. Asfiabove describei =.the itran'smitter is ikeyed-ibyithe zzmixerl outpuaeand :generates an .iiimpulse everyl'Nth: cycle; ofi'thel master; oscillator output, ewhereintN isthe :ratiorof: frequencyidivision. The transm'itterzkeys iaccuratelyzon :the s steepiwavelfrontzl-of ithezzmasterr oscillator; ex-

tremum,so:.that.atha phase accuracyswithmespect meme impulse. frequency .isi'high.

-;.*.The: sweep .voltagesmrerc'aused to'ttrace'zizhe rltimingiirlocus aa :controllable :intervali; :before': for --rafteriampulseiigeneration,zthroughi the'roperation f-Zbf 'thejiphase shifter. ailhe ssawitoothzgenerator willzznormallyfire: near: the t=peaks zofzthe voltage ave fromdiyider: I lsand inaugurates the averti- 'calfslweep. Asitheiphase-shifitemisevariedto con phase of the saw tooth wave rise.correspondingly zivar'ie'dp 'I'The as'inusoidal rdefle'ction wvoltage from .the'

chqrizontalganw vertical :defiection; voltages. As 6 :voltages-F-be. passing through= zero,-. ratherthan-to shave?anothen arbitrary ivalue. The-Tphasetrimfiller may-:be adjusted to efiect this-result. As the ,-shifter5pm thePsinusoidal-sweep is. equal to-that Consequently, mixer 8 receives the 10 4 of the divider output and therefor that of the sawtooth sweep, the same timing sweep pattern is presented on the screen regardless of the operation of the phase shifter. The latter, therefor, 5 simultaneously varies the phase of the master oscillator sweep signal and the lower frequency sweep 'sig-nahby. amountsjiproportional' to their frequencies and: thus controls the interval between the transmitter keying and the timing .trace inauguration.

This operation varies the position of the indicated' impulse and echo pattern along the length cof'the sweep, and permits ranging by successive juxtaposition of the transmitter impulse and the desired'echowitha marker. Such a marker may .be :produced electronically if desired, and applied to a beam controlling element of the oscilloscope. I lovveverfthe:marker shown is a line on the oscilloscope face *intersecting the timing axis at equally spaced intervals, and corresponds to elecztrom'cally 'jl-produced -:-;markers produced xunder 'synchronization-avith the sweep signals to divide the timewbase -as i-d'esired. #With the pattern shown, s the phase shifter, icalibrated in :distance, will: 'beset. zatezero when :the: transmitter impulse appears at the beginning 'tof the xsweep. 4 Range ewill be read -wherathe :iselected echo is: set to coincidence with Zthe i marker-eat;this;;point.-- nAlternatelythe-echo. may :bezbrought to: the closest- .adjacent intersection :of ;-the :marker. :and sweep and .therange deter- :mined fromrtheccrrection effected a dded, tolthe --known' range of. the;selectedtmarkerlintersection. :';In- Fig..- 2 is-z'shownanother; embodiment. of .the :invention; includingesome refinements not I. em- -ployed :in-.the-.system-sofi-F'igll, .hut lopera'ting ..:according to the principles above described. .The transmitter; l ,ta nten'nai,duplexera and. receiver 4: are as idescribedsini connection withQEig; 1.

Master eescillator-fi feeds (a plurality of fre- :quency dividers -'l, 15, lS-the outputro'flthellast establishing the impulse frequency. Each idi- .--vider-.--operates to. supply. aI-lowi. frequency fextremum -rcoinciding with ma -high l frequency ex- ..tremumof its input. signal; IThe outputs of'ithe master oscillator 6 and .diyiders. l4 an'd'lfi Iare ::combined :to, providev thetrahsrhitter synchronizing ,voltage. The resultantcomplex waveform, including.v the. impulse frequency carrying upon its extrema -two. superposed peaks L'ofhi'gher .frequency,. keys the; transmitterjthrough suitable synchronizing..circuits.

Mixer-.11 receivesthe output of; dividers .l 4 and G and supplies. the combined waveform to. mixer .i 8 which :receivesa.voltagejof master-.osbillator frequency frombuffer .ampli'fierl 9. The complex 'output .from .mixer 18 iszj'fed lthrough' a ipulse sharpener-2B..comprising a .normally blo'cke'd tube becoming. operative on. the superposed extrema, ..-which=areintroducedas a positive. voltage in the gridl circuit, .to. produce a sharp" plate pulse further sharpened. by buffer amplifier 2|. The steep wavel frontjroml 2 l fires" the'transmitter 1 .,.through' keyer 1'2 2 :Thesweep voltages arev derived from "divider '-l 5, which. feeds phase shifter 9 through buffer 2 3. The latter .-component 1 supplies the; signal to .divider- H ,1 which. has thesamedivisi'on ratio as divider- I6, --.and ,buffer. 24. Divfider; l I" synchro- -nizesrsaw tooth sweep .l U, whoseoutput is. applied .to the verticallplates. of oscilloscopei. Buffet 24 supplies the horizontal ,sweep..,thro ugh Qphase trimmer I2.

. The operation of v.this system is. (similar, to that of 1. -;The. range accuracy jwillj be; appreciare-illustrated in the succeeding figures. ,-be understoodthat such circuits, in common with v ablyjgfieater. howvergduef'to the increasedjfre ij quencyfstability of the master oscillator resulting .from the buffer amplifier employed, and from the increased phase accuracy of the transmitter keying due to'the greater frequency ratio between ,the impulse frequency and the highest frequency component of the transmitter keying voltage.

The components .of the systems shown in Figs.

frequency ranges of the operating voltages being such as not to raise. particularly difficult design problems. This is particularly true of the master oscillator, frequency dividers, buffer amplifiers,

pulse sharpener, phase shifter, and sawtooth sweep.- However, exemplary circuits of certain components suitable for use with the invention It will the block diagrams of Figs.. 1 and 2, are illustrative only and not to be construed as defining the limits of the invention or of the appended claims.

In the circuits shown Figs. 3 to 5, it is assumed that the master control oscillator supplies a sine wave output, and the same type of signal is produced by the dividers disclosed. For this type of operation any. conventional sine wave generator may be used for the master control oscillator.

The divider employed is of the synchronized type of Hartley circuit, shown in Fig. 3. The tank circuit'comprising inductance 26 and variable con- 1 denser 21 is tuned to a submultiple of the signal frequency introduced to a control grid at terminal 2 8. Bv careful adjustment of condenser 21 under oscilloscope monitoring of theinput -and. output signals at terminals 28 and 29 respectively it issimple to establish the low frequency peak of in which the input signals are introduced at terminals 30 and 3|, the complex output wave being taken off at terminal 32 across the plate load resistor. A suitable transmitter for operation in the system is shown in Fig. 5, comprising pushpull triodes 33 with high frequency resonant line section tanks 34 and 35 in the plate and grid circuits respectively. The transmitter is plate keyed through gaseous discharge tube 36 from potential storage source 3''. Tube 36 is fired by the s nchronizing voltage introduced in its grid circuit throu h cou ling transformer 38. Bias control potentiometer 39 is provided for adiusting the static conditions of tube 36 for firing under the sharp positive extremum introduced in the rid circuit. Tube 36 and transformer 38 constitute together kever 22 shown in Fig. 2.

In a transmitter of this t e the impulse duration will be determin d bv the char e on storage element 31 and tu e 36 ill extinguish at the end of the impulse so that the system is cyclic in operetion.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

I claim:

1. In an echo ranging system including an impulse t ansmitter. a receiver for detecting the transmitted impulse and a returned impulse, an oscillograph responsive to the receiver output,

means for generating'sweep 'voltagesflfor the oscillographoperative to establish a timing locus thereon for indicating the time relations of the transmittedand returned impulses, comprising a source of sinusoidal voltage, a frequency divider, a phase shifter coupling said sinusoidal voltage to said divider, means for feeding the output of said divider to one pair of deflectingplates of said oscillograph and means for feeding the output of said phase shifter to the other pair of deflecting plates of said oscillograph.

2. In an echo ranging system including an impulse transmitter, a receiver for detecting the transmitted impulse and a returned impulse, an oscillograph responsive to the receiver output, means for generating sweep voltages for v the oscillograph operative to establish a timing locus thereon for indicating the time relations of the transmitted and returned impulses comprising a source of sinusoidal voltage, a frequency divider, a phase shifter coupling said sinusoidal voltage to said divider, means for feeding the output of said divider to one pair of deflecting plates of said oscillograph and means for feeding the output of said phase shifter to the other pair of deflection plates of said oscillograph marker characteristicmeans on the timing locus.

3. In an echo ranging system including an impulsetransmitter, a source of alternating voltage, means including a frequency divider for keying 7 said impulse .transmitter from said alternating sweep voltages for theoscillograph operative to establish a sinuous timing locus thereon for indicating the. time relations of the transmitted and returned impulses, comprising a second frequency divider having a divider ratio similar to the first mentioned divider, a phase shifter couplingsaid alternating voltage to said second divider, means for feeding the output of said second divider to one pair of deflection plates of said oscillograph and means for feeding the output of said phase shifterto the other pairof deflection plates of said oscillograph.

4. A timing sweep generator for a cathode ray oscillograph having two pair of deflection means, including a saw tooth voltage generator coupled to one pair of the deflection means of said oscillograph, a sine wave voltage generator having a frequency equal to a multiple of said saw tooth generator, and means including a phase shifter coupling the output of said sine wave voltage generator to the other pair of said deflection means and to said saw-tooth generator to synchronize the same at a subharmonic of said sine wave voltage frequency, said phase shifter being operative simultaneously to vary the phase of the voltage applied to both pair of deflection means by amounts proportional to their frequencies.

5. A timing sweep generator for a cathode ray oscillograph having two pair of deflection means, comprising a pair of recurrent voltage wave generators supplying harmonically related frequencies and means including a phase shifter coupling the output of the higher frequency generator to one pair of deflection means of said cathode ray oscillograph and also to said lower frequency generator to synchronize the same at a subharmonic of the higher frequency generator, said lower frequency generator being coupled to the other pair of deflection means, and said phase shifter being operative simultaneously to shift acumen ;;.the- 1 phase ofesaid deflection voltage waves ,by @amounts proportional to their, frequencies.

7 GQIn-an'echO-ranging system includingv an impulse transmitter, :a receiver responsive .to the transmitted impulse and to a-returned impulse, --ra-nd-=a cathode ray oscilloscope fed bythe receiver, --circ uit -means for generating a timing locus on .the oscilloscope comprising a source of recurrent i-voltagaa phase-shifterfed ,by said source, a fre- -;quency dividerv fed by the phase pshifterya saw tooth generator s ynchronizedby the output of the frequencydivider, means for feeding the output of the; saw tooth generatorto one pair of deaflectionplates, and means for feeding the output ofthe phase shifter tothe other pair-of deflection ,plates. v n -f7.- In an echo-ranging systemincluding'an implulse ;transmitter, an impulse receiver, for detectingthe transmitter impulse and areturned im pulse andan oscilloscope fed. by the receiver,

.a master control oscillator, frequency divider pmeans fed by said oscillator operative to supply .a-r-voltage wave-sub-harmonically related to the master oscillator wave, means for combining ssaid-waves, and a control circuit for-keying the ,transmitter operating -in dependency on said combined wave,..means responsiveto the master .oscillator operative to supply a .wave 7, having a frequency equalto a multiple of 1 the frequency divider.output,- means for shifting ,thephase of 'I suchlwave, second frequency divider means fed 1 bythe phase shifter means operative to divide the [frequency bysaidmultiple, a sweep generator opcrating, in independency; on the output of a the second'frequency divider, and meansfor apply- .ing thephaseshif ter and sweep generator output pwaves tothe oscilloscope to'form .atiming locus.

8. "A timing device including means for, genferating a signaL'means for receiving said signal *and'a subsequent signal,. an oscilloscope fedby the receiving means and having a sweep circuit establishing a, timing locus for determining the interval between said signals, a control circuit for the signal generating means, a control circuit forthe sweep circuit, a recurrent voltage source, frequency 'dividermeans driven by said source,

,m s combinin th .Q utnuts v.Q the re urrent ,voltage ,source and thefrequency divider means,

,means fe'e'dingthe combined waveto one otsaid control. circuits, andmeans feeding the other control circuit .withja wave, havingsaid dividerfre- ,quency. I

9. A timing device including ,means gfor generating a signal, means'for receiving said signal and a subsequent signal, an oscilloscope; fed by the receivingmeans and having a sweepcircuit a i h n a tim n l cus f rd termin n h interval etw e flsaid si nal Lm trQMim .for the si nal en ra psm ns a. control ci cu ,1 for thesweepcircuit, a recurrent. voltage source,

'fr qu n yid vid mean r ven b i o r means combining; the output of n the recurrent voltage source and the frequency dividerrneans, means (feeding; thecombinedwave to one of said .control circuits, .and means feeding ,the -othe1 control circuit -with a wave having said divider i frequency, and meansfor shiftingthe phase of one of said waves fed to a controlcircult.

"LA 'V'ERN'E --R.' PHILPOTT.

REFERENCES oi'rED The following references are of record in: the

"file of this patent:

{UNITED s rATEsf-PA'I'EN'rs 

